This is an HTML resource for middle to upper primary students about how to answer reading comprehension questions that require them to compare, contrast, synthesise or classify information in an informative text. The resource has three tabs: Introduction; Text and questions; and Answer key. The Introduction tab discusses ...

'A blazing light' by Georgia Walters is a poem commemorating the death of Buddhist Lama Chogye Trichen Rinpoche in which the narrator remembers him fondly and ponders questions about existence and the afterlife. The poem has the subtitle 'For his Eminence Chogye Trichen Rinpoche' and is laid out in a simple single column, ...

'Putting your body on the line' by Nathan Besser recounts a Jewish schoolboy's attempts to gain popularity by being associated with a newly formed school rugby team. The narrator, Nathan, recounts his failure to make the team as a player. His persistent attempts not to be entirely left out result in him being taken on as ...

'On nights like this' by Josephine Rowe is a poem in which the narrator summons memories of her absent mother captured in unhappy domestic situations. Thoughts of her mother feeding the rabbits on a cold winter's night is the one memory the narrator finds the 'nicest'. The poem is presented in a white box on a black background ...

'Untitled' ('Poem for a journey') by Anna Dunnill evokes the speaker's state of grief and indecision and then imagines the slow and painful movement towards healing and renewal. The poem is laid out as a single column, surrounded by clean white swirling lines growing up against a black background.

'The time I leapt into the sky ...' by Wanyima Wighton is a short fiction in which the narrator describes taking flight interposed with memories of childhood - the adventures, games and imaginings. The piece is on a single page in two columns.

In the allegorical short story 'Timeless' by Benjamin Teicher, Walter, an old clock repairman, contemplates his future as the world prepares for time to stop. On a house call to fix an antique grandfather clock, Walter learns from its owner that scientists have developed a machine that will cause time to stop in the near ...

'Desert music', by Marley Berry-Pearce, is a story about a boy who, while staying in a community with Aboriginal friends Felix and Jeremy and learning from them about the land and their culture, is challenged by some strange occurrences. The boy, who has been given the skin name Jangala, is taken on a hunting and food-gathering ...

This information sheet describes the results of study by Museum Victoria scientists of 380-million-year-old fossil fish from Gogo, Western Australia. It outlines discoveries relating to how these early fish reproduced. It includes an animation showing how mating occurred.

This is an information sheet that tells the story of the discovery of a fossil fish that is the world's oldest vertebrate mother. Also available is an animation showing the mother fish giving birth and a video of Dr John Long describing the find, how the fossils are prepared, and their significance.

The document seen here is an extract from the First World War service dossier of James Holmes Fleming, as it appears on the National Archives of Australia website, 'Mapping our Anzacs'. This highly important website contains 375,971 records of service in the Australian Army during the First World War. It is accessed via ...

This is a collection of primary source documents about Chinese Australians in the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century. It is introduced by the Victorian Letters of naturalisation for Teang Wee, seen here. The document is part of a National Archives online exhibits page showcasing the types of records it ...

This is a collection of primary-source documents about post-Second World War migrants Roman and Rosa Wlochowitz and their family, who came to Australia from Germany in the 1950s. It is introduced by the medical information form, seen here, for their three daughters, Christel, Gudrun and Monika. This form is part of a National ...

Are music downloads a CD swan song? The application form for a radio DJ included the question 'What CD do you currently have loaded in your CD player?' The young applicant responded, 'I don’t own a CD player.' The Y-gen are techno savvy, but at what cost? A song from popular online stores costs around $1.30 each. A compilation ...

This resource considers the question 'Are the Academy Awards an ageist and sexist institution?' An unusual question for a mathematics class, but the answer lies in the data. In this activity, students collect, represent and analyse data relating to the Academy awards and compare the ages of the male and female award winners. ...

What are the chances that a randomly generated quadratic equation will factorise? In this activity, the x coefficient in the equation is generated by rolling a pair of dice and summing the result. The constant in the equation is generated by rolling another pair of dice and finding the product. There are 1296 possible equations. ...

Matchsticks can be used to create patterns. How many matches does it take to create one triangle? What about two, three or four triangles? This activity is a kinaesthetic approach to the mathematical modelling of a simple linear function while providing meaning to the parameters (m and c) in a simple linear function: y = mx + c.

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